The present invention relates generally to the field of light emitting diodes (LEDs), and in particular to a method for mounting an external heat dissipater to the LED for enhancing heat dissipation.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a lighting device have the advantages of compact size and less power consumption as compared to the traditional lighting devices. However, due to the limitation in illumination efficiency of the LEDs, the luminance of the LEDs is much less than that of the conventional lightening devices. One way to compensate the poor luminance of the LEDs is to increase the electrical current flowing through the LEDs. Increasing current, however, leads to rise of heat generated. The heat is transmitted to a circuit board on which the LEDs are mounted and dissipated through end faces of the circuit board. The circuit board, however, is generally made of insulation material that is poor in transmitting and dissipating heat.
Light emitting diodes with improved heat dissipation are also available. Such a light emitting diode comprises a substrate on which a light-emitting unit is mounted and a plurality of terminals extending from opposite sides of the substrate. A heat dissipation plate is mounted to the terminals. The heat dissipation plate is soldered to a circuit board when the LED is mounted to the circuit board. The heat dissipation plate increases overall heat dissipation surface for the LED and efficiently transmits heat from the LED to the circuit board. However, heat is still dissipated through the end faces of the circuit board and the dissipation is constrained by the poor heat conductivity of the circuit board.
It is thus desired to additionally mount an efficient heat dissipater to the LEDs to overcome the problems discussed above.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for mounting a heat dissipater to an LED to increase the overall heat dissipation surface of the LED.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for readily and easily mounting a heat dissipater to an LED device.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for mounting a heat dissipater to a light emitting diode, the heat dissipater comprising a heat dissipation board to which the light emitting diode is mounted, the method comprising the following steps: (a) positioning a material strip in a feeder for conveying the material strip through a working platform, a punching device being employed to punch the material strip and forming a number of heat dissipation boards on the material strip; (b) conveying a number of light emitting diodes into the working platform by a supply mechanism; (c) picking up the light emitting diodes and positioning the picked up light emitting diodes on the corresponding heat dissipation boards; (d) cutting and separating the heat dissipation boards on which the light emitting diodes are positioned from the material strip to form finished products of light emitting diodes to which a heat dissipater comprised of the heat dissipation board is mounted; (e) storing the finished products in a storage device; and (f) collecting remaining portion of the material strip with a collection mechanism.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for mounting a heat dissipater to a light emitting diode, the heat dissipater comprising first and second heat dissipation boards to which the light emitting diode is mounted, the method comprising the following steps: (a) positioning a first material strip in a feeder for conveying the first material strip through a first working platform, a punching device being employed to punch the first material strip and forming a number of first heat dissipation boards on the first material strip; (b) conveying a number of light emitting diodes into the first working platform by a supply mechanism; (c) picking up the light emitting diodes and positioning the picked up light emitting diodes on the corresponding first heat dissipation boards; (d) positioning a second material strip in a feeder for conveying the second material strip through a second working platform and punching the second material strip to form a number of second heat dissipation boards on the second material strip; (e) cutting and separating the second heat dissipation boards from the second material strip and collecting remaining portion of the second material strip; (f) picking up the second heat dissipation boards and positioning the picked up second heat dissipation boards on the light emitting diodes that are positioned on the first heat dissipation boards; (g) cutting and separating the first heat dissipation boards on which the light emitting diodes and the second heat dissipation boards are positioned from the first material strip to form finished products of light emitting diodes to which a heat dissipater comprised of first and second heat dissipation boards is mounted; (h) storing, the finished products in a storage device; and (i) collecting remaining portion of the first material strip with a collection mechanism.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for mounting a heat dissipater to a light emitting diode, the heat dissipater comprising first and second heat dissipation boards to which the light emitting diode is mounted, the method comprising the following steps: (a) forming a number of first heat dissipation boards on a material strip and conveying the material strip through a working platform; (b) positioning a light emitting diode on each first heat dissipation board of the material strip; (c) positioning a second heat dissipation board that is formed on another material strip on the light emitting diode of each first heat dissipation board; (d) cutting the first and second heat dissipation boards on which the light emitting diode is positioned to form a finished product of light emitting diode to which a heat dissipater comprised of first and second heat dissipation boards is mounted; (e) storing the finished products in a storage device; and (f) collecting remaining portions of the material strips with collection mechanisms.